A Hero
by Tritessa Malaise
Summary: Tragedy has struck and the pain is overwhelming until a message from beyond helps with the healing. WARNING: Character death!


**A/N: I said I wasn't going to post anything, but I just LOVE this too much! I almost cried while writing it then re reading it to make sure it sounded alright. I was originally going to wait to put this up with my drabbles series, and I still might because like I said I just LOVE this story. Now, this is a oneshot for Ben just in Gwen's perspective. I know it doesn't seem like it and you'll get it at the end. Please review, I would like to hear your thoughts on it.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.**

Cold winds, harsh sounds and even colder water blanketed the city of Bellwood. Lightning split the sky, thunder slammed the clouds; children were hiding under their blankets out of fear. Such a harshness wasn't normal for the summer time; a rare occurrence in fact. But today was such a day that maybe anything could happen, especially with the eerie darkness that hung over this normally vibrant town. There was a certain type of dead air through the roaring storm that only came with the death of someone truly important. Was that such the case? Maybe it was because every single town's person seemed to be full of sorrow during this rare summer storm.

Red hair hung without a care around slim shoulders, as dull green eyes stared down at a picture held within nimble hands. The room was dark with shadows dancing against the walls in a ritualistic manner with the flicker of candles. With a crack of lightning the picture was illuminated. Three people stood together, smiling and climbing on top of one another. It looked so lighthearted and happy. A tear fell onto the glass. A brown haired, green eyed teen boy was falling in the middle with a big, cheesy grin on his face with his green jacket embroidered with the number '10', his black shirt, jeans and the green and black watch on his wrist. Jumping around on top of the skinny teen was a bulkier teen with his onyx hair, deep, almost black, brown eyes, wearing his long sleeve gray shirt, black t-shirt and jeans. The older teen wore a smirk as he tried to force the one beneath him out of the picture. Of course, the red haired girl and her bright smile were leaning on top of both of them. Lastly was a large, older man just standing happily behind them. Another tear splashed against the glass.

"Gwen?" a low, deep voice probed from behind her bedroom door, a soft and tiny knock following soon after.

She sniffed, wiping her eyes before answering, "Come in Kevin." Her head turned to see the same raven haired teen from the picture dressed in a black suit, entering her room.

"Your dad wanted me to see if you were ready," he said softly, looking uncomfortable in the formal attire. His eyes scanned the area and quickly noted that the lights were out and promptly flicked the light switch.

"Oh yeah…I'm ready," she sighed heavily, setting the picture frame down with the clear tears that fell on it rolling off the glass. Her black, square neck dress stopped just at her knees with blue printed birds on the skirt and matching black heels were now visible with the lights on in her room. As she was pacing around the room, blowing out candles, she looked up at him, "Is Grandma Verdona here yet?"

"Uh, yeah, she got here a few minutes ago," he replied, watching her and her completely dead expression. He could understand how she felt; it was a troubling feeling. Although, he doubted she had ever had something like this happen to her before. He has lived with his father's death for many years, but she was just feeling the sting of loss and he could only imagine the utter heartbreak she was going through. His own heart ached for her.

As Gwen walked towards the larger teen, he gently placed his hand on her shoulder and the two of them walked out of her room. Her mind was so scattered that she didn't even bother to close her door like she always did. The dull pain in her throat from just hours ago was still fresh, even if her red, puffy eyes had faded. Both teens walked down the stairs and followed Gwen's parents out the front door. Verdona teleported away, locked in on a familiar signal, while Gwen got in the car with Kevin and her parents took their own car.

Driving through the streets, everything seemed so quiet. The red head placed an elbow on the armrest of the passenger door and stared at the drenching rain. She hadn't bothered with an umbrella; there just wasn't a reason for it. What would it matter anyways? Without him the world was lost. They couldn't go on without him because without him there just wasn't a world. Kevin did his best to be strong, but she could easily see through the façade he set up. With him though, things were different. No one could ever figure out what he was going to do or what he was feeling! He was just that damn good. And now? Now he was gone! There was nothing left of him or his legacy. He didn't leave behind anything for the world to remember him. How could he have just left things like he did? What about the people that loved him! It's like he didn't even care that they were going to miss him. The only thing left of him now were memories; but what good were they?

"We're here…" Kevin's voice echoed in her ears which brought Gwen back to reality.

Green eyes looked up and past the droplets that littered the car and made it near impossible to see. There was the faint sound of Kevin's voice behind her, but she ignored it as she opened the car door and stepped into the drowning storm. Not even a sweater to keep her bare arms warm, but she didn't even look cold; just numb, they all did. So many people were there, all gathered around the same spot and all wearing the same color; black. Their faces told the whole story. No one could fake anything today; every emotion coating this city was sadness. Next to Kevin, Gwen paced herself as she fixed her gaze at what was in the middle of everyone. She couldn't. Her paced slowed to a stop and she just froze, unable to move as her gaze stayed transfixed on that one spot. Beside her Kevin stopped and tried to coax the girl to continue on to the gathering.

It was only a day after that the red head found herself collapsing upon marble in the continuation of the storm from the day before. Her screams of pain echoed around her, but no one could hear her over the enormous roar of the thunder. Tears stung her eyes and burned her face, making her red and blotchy and her entire body shook against the cold, muddy ground. She just couldn't understand how this could have happened! Pushing herself to sit up, her fingers traced the chiseled letters gently, tears still streaming uncontrollably down her face. He meant so much to her and so many others, and now he was gone. Her pink eyes caught sight of something sticking out from under her leg and picked it up. The Anodyte gasped. In her hand was the picture she had been looking at the day before, it even had the tiny tear in the upper left hand corner from when she fought with her cousin to keep it. Turning the soaked picture over she saw scribbled words in pen ink.

"Gwen, don't be sad. Love Ben," she read aloud to herself as fresh new tears filtered from her green orbs. She kissed the picture and hugged it to her chest, laughing to herself. Picking herself up off the muddy ground, she cast a glance down before walking away.

A marble slab lay motionless behind the steps of the red headed heroine, collecting rain water in the groves of the writing. Transparent sneakers appeared in front of the slab, ghostly green eyes watching the back of the red head. When she was finally out of sight, the wispy embodiment of a brown haired teen boy, dressed in jeans, a black shirt and green jacket with an embroidered '10' looked down at what lay at his feet. _'Here lies Benjamin Kirby Tennyson. A great hero and beloved friend.'_ He saw the picture had been left with the actual picture faced against the ground. Kneeling down he read what was on the back. 'Goodbye Ben. Love Gwen.' The hero smiled to himself.

"Ben!" a girl's voice called out to him. His head whipped over his shoulder to see the love of his life, Julie, smiling big at him and waving her hand over her head. With a giant smile of his own, he ran to her; the both of them fading away in the distance.


End file.
